FUOYE VC Allegedly Intimidates, Humiliates Married Staff Who Rejected His Sexual Advances 

After making unsuccessful efforts to have a sexual relationship with Folasade Adebayo, a married woman and deputy director at the Directorate of Works and Services in the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Vice Chancellor Abayomi Fasina resorted to intimidating her.

Adebayo joined the institution as a chief engineer in the physical planning and works department on January 2, 2012, according to her appointment letter dated November 28, 2012. The letter was part of documents submitted to the new governing council chairman Victor Ndoma-Egba in early January.

For this investigation, FIJ reviewed correspondence between Adebayo and the university, letters submitted to the school’s Governing Council, and some sources who asked not to be quoted.

In the letter to the council chairman, Adebayo explained that her diligence at work earned her commendation from the management at various times. She participated in an appraisal and interview process to become deputy director at the works department in 2015 but she was denied the promotion “for a reason best known to the management”.

When Fasina became the vice chancellor in 2021, he revisited various issues, including staff promotion. This afforded Adebayo an opportunity to re-present her denied promotion case and the governing council thereafter approved it, back-dating her deputy directorship to 2015. This new role placed her under Fasina’s direct supervision.

After Adebayo got her new role, Fasina informed her of his sexual desires. Adebayo persistently turned down the vice chancellor.

Fasina boasted that he deliberately turned his attention away from other “beautiful but not intelligent women” flocking around him because he had his eyes on Adebayo.

What followed Adebayo’s refusal was a flurry of intimidating acts, exemplified by verbal harassment and undeserved written queries.

“Issues began to emerge when the vice chancellor, Prof. Fasina, would publicly embarrass me and start to intimidate me for no just cause. Members of the university management would be truthful to remember a day (September 22, 2023) when I was walked out of the management meeting by the vice chancellor and he publicly said that he did not want to see me again,” she wrote in her letter to FUOYE’s governing council.

“However, the song changed when the vice chancellor started making immoral advances towards me; all such attempts were turned down respectfully,” Adebayo wrote.

Adebayo was later removed as an acting director on December 31, 2023.

“After I was removed as acting director, I was redeployed to the Ikole Campus as a staff in engineering services (not as the head) on January 4, 2024. The public disgrace and harassment were overwhelming when my family members began to notice depression as a result of my losing sleep and the attendant insomnia,” she stated.

Fasina had started to claim that it was Adebayo who was seducing him and not the other way around.

“People started asking me questions about a claim by Prof. Abayomi Fasina that I wanted to seduce him. This story so spread fast on campus that I was looking for ways to defend my integrity,” she wrote in a document.

The vice chancellor engineered a recent query against Adebayo, claiming that she singlehandedly engaged a contractor for a project without authorisation. But Adebayo explained and provided evidence that Fasina was actually involved.

The query touched on the construction of the Gross Laboratory for Anatomy Building, a facility the school needed to get accreditation for courses in the College of Medicine.

As part of government procurement requirement, Fasina wrote to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the issuance of a “certificate of no objection”, a due-process document authorising the school to go ahead with awarding the contract, on May 26, 2023. They needed this as quickly as possible to ensure the contractor delivered the project on time for the resource verification exercise in the College of Medicine.

“Surprisingly, the Vice Chancellor pushed this on me, claiming that he did not know anything about the project and that I single-handedly engaged the contractor to execute the project. Unfortunately for the source of that information, a reply of the vice chancellor’s earlier request for approval came on 17th July, 2023,” Adebayo stated.

“Amazingly, my subordinate, the succeeding acting director of works, was mandated to issue me a query.”

Another query came when Adebayo was away from work on July 26, 2024. Approval for her absence was granted by Professor Olubunmi Shittu, the deputy vice-chancellor (academics) heading Ikole Campus.

Surprisingly, she was issued a query dated July 29 despite the approval.

In response to the July 29 query, referenced FUOYE/REG/PEO/SQ/223/Vol.5/018 and signed by Sunday A. Akinkunmi, a deputy registrar at Personnel Affairs Division in the school, Adebayo wrote in part: “The university regulations permit the immediate superior officer to grant a request of a member of staff for one day of absence from duty. My absence did not exceed the permitted one day.”

Adebayo might have had Subsection 10.4.3 of Section 10.4 of the university’s 2022 Revised Regulations Governing the Conduct of Service of Senior Staff in mind when she wrote that her immediate supervisor was authorised to grant her a one-day casual leave.

“Absence from the university outside these periods [seven days leave] for up to three (3) days shall only be with the prior permission of the head of department and the dean of the faculty concerned or the head of the appropriate non-teaching unit,” the subsection stated.

The documents in FIJ’s possession also indicated that the authorities at Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi, Lagos, invited Adebayo for questioning after an unnamed NGO wrote a petition.

“A non-governmental organisation was said to have petitioned the Inspector-General of Police against the FUOYE management for continuous flouting of rules on finance, account operations, frauds and abuse of procurement process,” Adebayo wrote.

“As a result of what the vice chancellor was meting out against me [at] that time, Prof. Fasina thought that I would be responsible for the various petitions and allegations of financial recklessness and impropriety to the Nigerian Police and the ICPC.

“Till today, I am yet to read or know the full content of the petition neither do I know the identity of the petitioner. I was however invited to Police Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos, where I was informed by the police that the petitioner mentioned my name as a witness to a sexual indulgence move by the vice chancellor.

“They alleged that the VC promoted me from CONTISS 9 to 13 and subsequently appointed me as the acting director of works, observing that it was when I did not consent to the VC’s advances that brought about my removal as the acting director.

“I told the police what I knew about the allegation. The police asked further that there was information that the vice chancellor was having illicit affair with me and I told them plainly that I never had such.

“I told the police that rather, it was the vice chancellor that tried to make advances to me which I rejected. They asked as to whether he touched any part of my body when he was making advances and I replied, NO.

“He did not touch me with hand but he was using his power and position to intimidate and harass me with the anger that I refused his advances.”

The police however claimed that Adebayo had told them that Fasina did not sexually harass her and cleared him of any misconduct, according to a report credited to Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Fasina’s legal representative.

“Recently, I saw a media write-up that the police had investigated the case of sexual harassment and cleared the vice chancellor, and that I wrote that he did not harass me. It is amazing how [my] statement made [to the police] can be interpreted so lightly,” Adebayo also wrote.

“The police were pleading with me that I should not take this matter up because there were enough evidence to destroy the image of the vice chancellor.

“Despite the fact that the police sponsored my second invitation with a sum of One Hundred Thousand Naira for flight ticket and I told them that I had every conversation on the said harassment recorded, one would wonder where the clearance of the vice chancellor emanated from.

“At no time did I absolve the vice chancellor of sexual harassment with the police. What I denied was his having an illicit affair with me. The police requested that I submit the audio evidence with me as at that time, which I did in good faith.”

Another instance of intimidation Adebayo cited was the university denying her medical leave, heightening her fear of personal and family security.

“These gave birth to another round of blackmail and harassment within the university community. The intimidation was so much that I was even denied the request for medical leave as prescribed by [a] certified doctor and authenticated by the director of the University Health Centre,” a document quoted Adebayo.

“As it is now, the various inciting statements and hostility against me are making the academic environment tense and non-conducive to guarantee the security of my life and that of my family members.”

FUOYE prides itself as a centre of “innovation and character for national transformation” and its Directorate of Gender Studies encourages victims of sexual harassment to report it because “sexual harassers are predators” who might not stop until they are reported.

“Sexual harassment won’t stop by itself. Sexual harassers don’t stop unless someone makes them [stop]. If nobody takes action, they continue to harass, often escalating their behaviour,” the gender directorate wrote in a digital flyer posted on the school’s Facebook page on November 4, 2023.

“There are probably others: Sexual harassers are predators. They move from one person to the next, unless someone stops them. You might not be the first, but you can be the last.

“The law protects you: The law forbids retaliation against individuals who report sexual harassment.”
Fasina’s conduct is inconsistent with the provisions of the FUOYE’s staff regulation. Under Section 8.3, sexual harassment, if proven, is a gross misconduct punishable by termination of appointment.
“Gross misconduct is a specific act of very serious wrongdoing and improper behaviour which is inimical to the image of the service and which can be investigated and if proven, may lead to dismissal” is how the regulation defines sexual harassment, among other disreputable offences.

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS CONFIRM ‘ABUSE OF POWER’ BY VC

FIJ learnt that when the harassment began, a governing council had not been formed. So, Adebayo reported the matter to the FUOYE’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) in February 2024.
Benjamin Faleye, the SSANU chairman, confirmed to FIJ that his leadership was involved in looking into the complaint.
“If issues like that happen, it is usually the VC that handles it. But when the VC is directly involved, who do we report to in the absence of the governing council? While managing the situation, the government formed a new governing council. So, we wrote to the Kayode Ojo-led governing council regarding the sexual harassment,” Faleye told FIJ during a phone interview on January 2.
“We would not have been particular about the issue but it had graduated to victimisation and this bothered our union. We believe that making advances to a married woman should be a socio-contract offer. But someone declining your offer should not lead to victimisation. But in this case of Adebayo and Professor Abayomi Fasina, it has resulted in victimisation already. This is why we frown at it in totality.
“What do I mean by victimisation? It has led to giving multiple unlawful queries to the woman. We listened to the pieces of evidence and felt this was unacceptable. And we are crying to the appropriate quarters to see how they can stop this abuse of power by the VC.”
On November 20, President Bola Tinubu replaced Ojo, an engineer, with Victor Ndoma-Egba as governing council chairman.
Before Ojo left FUOYE, he had already begun to look into the sexual harassment and subsequent intimidation against Adebayo, documents showed. But FIJ’s efforts to get his comment on this story were unsuccessful. Ojo told FIJ on January 2 that he was not in the country and requested to be phoned back the following weekend but his line failed to connect then and subsequent attempts were unsuccessful.

Fasina mentions some university staff who told him they received phone calls from DSS officials. He then says Adebayo is endangering herself the more.

The former council chairman Ojo invited key members of the university, including Adebayo, Fasina, SSANU chairman Faleye and secretary Ayomikun Aluko, to a meeting held at FUOYE Liaison Office in Abuja on September 16, 2024, over the matter.

“The union at the local level [FUOYE] had to carry our national leadership along. For you to know the extent of the case, the management paid for our flight to the meeting. The council chairman was represented at the meeting by a representative of the Ministry of Education and other external council members and the woman was persuaded and pleaded with for over four hours. Despite the meeting, the victimisation persisted,” Faleye said.

About three months after the meeting, the university management suspended Faleye and Aluko for their involvement in the matter.

Adebayo wrote back to Ojo after the Abuja meeting explaining that Fasina continued to victimise her and asking the authorities to treat the case on its merit rather than persuasion.

“At the meeting after hearing from me, I requested for justice and I was pleaded with to overlook the whole issue and that it will fizzle out with time. I was further told that the vice-chancellor will make some corrections to ensure the matter is resolved when we get back to Oye Ekiti,” Adebayo wrote.

“After the meeting, I wrote the pro-chancellor to ensure that it was properly documented. Unfortunately, none of the agreements and corrections promised by the vice chancellor at the reconciliatory meeting was carried out. (I submitted this to the Office of the Pro-Chancellor through the Council Affairs Division).

“Instead, the vice chancellor was reportedly bragging that no amount of letter I wrote would see the light of the day. This deeply traumatised me. Based on that, it was obvious that the effort of the former council chairman had failed.”

Fasina once threatened Adebayo during a conversation in his office that she was exposing herself to danger and that people would know that she was “the architect of her problem” by attempting to report the issue to higher authorities.

A letter by Ojo, the former governing council chairman, contained Adebayo’s three main demands, which have yet to be resolved despite the council’s attempts.
She demanded that her name be cleared off the query that she oversaw the construction of a building in the College of Medicine. She had been invited many times by the police and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) to respond to the same allegation.

Adebayo also denied in the said letter that she was seducing Fasina, saying the allegation had no merit.

“Of greatest concern to me is the false and damaging allegation that I attempted to seduce the vice chancellor. This allegation is completely without merit,” Adebayo wrote in a September 17 letter to former Pro-Chancellor Kayode Ojo.

“On the contrary, it was the vice chancellor who made multiple inappropriate advances towards me, which I firmly rejected. When his advances were rebuffed, he resorted to various forms of intimidation, including verbal harassment, issuing queries, transferring me, and reducing my duties by having me report to a junior colleague.

“I was subjected to several panels and committees, all seemingly intended to degrade me and break my spirit. The constant harassment not only undermined my position but also posed a significant threat to my mental health, making the work environment unbearable.

“Given the opportunity for reconciliation, I respectfully request that all forms of harassment cease immediately.

Additionally, I humbly seek rectification of the situation where I am made to report to a junior colleague, and I kindly request to be allowed to perform my duties in a supportive and conducive work environment, free from intimidation. Lastly, I will appreciate it to have my name formally cleared of all rumours and allegations peddled against me.”

Although Adebayo had insisted in documents obtained by FIJ that at no time did she absolve Fasina of the misconduct, Dayo Sobowale, Fasina’s special adviser, told FIJ on January 2 that the woman had denied the existence of such harassment before the police.

There must be victimisation in order to establish a case of sexual harassment, Sobowale said.